Saturday, November 30, 2013

Flannel Friday: Gingerbread Friends ~ Fun and Games!

Happy Flannel Friday!

Recently, we decided to add what we call a Stay and Play time to our Read, Sing, Play Toddlertime every Tuesday morning. I had wanted to do this for years but my former boss never approved the idea. I was a little hesitant to ask my new boss but finally decided to take the chance. I am so glad I did! She loved the idea and we started the very next week. 

Since then, I have been garagesale-ing to find age-approproate toys and learning activities for our storytime friends. I have also been creating lots of activities of my own ~ mostly out of felt!

This week's Flannel Friday contribution is the new learning activity for this week's Stay and Play

The learning activity is made from a Fun Find that I picked up for a song last year after Christmas. (If you are unfamiliar with what I call a Fun Find, just click here for an explanation.) 

The Fun Find was felt kits for making Gingerbread Boys and Girls.


I picked the kits up for a couple of dollars a piece and they made 16 Gingerbread kids each! Once I opened them, I decided to do a little tweaking to be able to use my Gingerbread friends with my younger storytime friends.

First, I embroidered the mouths with red thread, then I added eyes by finding little black brads and little pink felt circles were glued on for the cheeks. 

Next, I decided to add buttons, bows, and numerals in the colors of the rainbow. Each Gingerbread Boy pair would be able to be matched up by color and by numeral/number of buttons. (The buttons were brads in each color ~ a little bigger than the eye brads.) I also added white felt icing to the arms and legs.
 

Once each Gingerbread boy was decorated, I glued them to some brown felt so that I could cover up the brads and embroidery threads. This served two purposes: it made the "cookies" safer for the little ones to play with and it made each cookie the same from the back. You'll see why this is important in a minute.

Here are all the Gingerbread Boys ready for the Fun and Games:


There are tons of things I have planned for these cute little guys but the one activity that I wanted to share with my families this week is the Gingerbread Friends Memory Game

I will be encouraging my storytime parents to use the Gingerbread Kids just like cards in a Memory Game. They will turn all the cookies over to the plain side when they place them in rows on the flannel board or floor. Then they will take turns turning over two at a time with their child as they try to find the pairs. As mentioned before, this can be done by matching colors or by naming the numeral and finding the cookie with the right number of buttons.

Since I was able to buy several kits for such a low price, I have been able to make quite a few sets of both Gingerbread Boys and Girls. 

This will allow several parents to play Gingerbread Friends Memory with their children at the same time. 

For my other friends, we will have our new kitchen play area set up for making cookies! Complete with bowls, spoons, measuring cups, rolling pins, cookie cutters ~ AND Gingerbread Playdough!

The playdough is homemade so it is easy to clean up and completely edible. It is edible and smells delicious but I didn't say it tasted good! LOL

Here is the no-cook recipe that I like to use:

Gingerbread Playdough

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup water

Mix together and knead until smooth.
Store in an airtight container or Ziploc bag.

Each family will be able to take home a small baggie of playdough to continue the fun and learning at home.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Flannel Friday Round-Up: Friday, November 29, 2013

Are you ready for this week's Flannel Friday Round-Up?


Drum roll, please!

To start us off this week, Kathryn is getting the jump on Christmas with her sweet, little Gingerbread Men on her blog, Fun with Friends at Storytime. She has several fun, interactive songs and fingerplays to go along with her yummy felt cookies. I love her special glittery sugar cookies at the end of her post.  I can't wait to use Kathryn's awesome ideas!
Delicious!

It is really funny how often Flannel Friday-ers seem to think alike from week to week ~ this week, I also have some yummy Gingerbread Friends to share at my blog, Storytime ABC'S. Mine were created to be used for songs and rhymes during storytime AND for a little learning fun at our new Stay and Play time following our Toddlertime each Tuesday.  I also made Gingerbread Playdough for our storytime friends to play with ~ recipe included! 
These yummy friends can be used for
Color Recognition/Matching and Counting activities.

Though it hasn't quite snowed yet where Shaia at Thrive After Three lives, she is still wearing all of the cute, colorful clothes she made for a rebus-reading of The Jacket I Wear in the Snow. I know her storytime friends must have loved being able too help "read" the story! 
A rebus flannel set ~ what a clever idea!

Anne at So Tomorrow was inspired to create a flannel set based on one of her favorite books published in 2013, Windblown by Edouard Manceau. She was inspired by a past Flannel Friday post which she shares a link to in her post. I always enjoy seeing different versions of the same book, song, or rhyme.
Chicken 

Here is another example of Flannel Friday-ers thinking alike ~ Sharon is also sharing one of her favorite books from 2013! She shared her favorite in an "unconventional Flannel Friday post" on her blog, Rain Makes Applesauce. I love unconventional posts, don't you?!??! The book that Sharon has fallen in love with is Moo by David LaRochelle. Have you seen it yet? I actually have it in my TBR pile at work and now I can't wait to read it on Monday ~ thanks to Sharon!!!
Moo - zoooom!

Jane at Piper Loves the Library has "a biggie with a little bit flannel". You definitely do NOT want to miss it! It is a super fancy party to celebrate National Picture Book Month! I'm so sad that I wasn't able to dress-up and attend  but I'm sooo sooo happy that Jane is sharing her "red carpet" fun with us through words and pictures. 
You are a Rockstar Librarian, Jane!

Sue at Let the Wild Rumpus Start is sharing her "quick and easy" felts for the book, There Was a Bold Lady Who Wanted a Star! She says "quick and easy", I say "WOW!" She hand drew her pieces with puffy paint! Plus she made them reversible!!! I am impressed!
All the items that the Bold Lady collected along the way.

Katie at ¡Es divertido hablar dos idiomas! has gone above and beyond with her Cats/Gatos-themed bilingual storytime plan. She shares bilingual books, songs, and an adorable flannel based on the book, Cookie's Week/La Semana de Cookie. All the work is done for us! She has provided a ready-made storytime that anyone could present in both English and Spanish.
Uh-oh! Cookie better be careful!

  1. I hope everyone has had a very

And, in honor of the holiday, I thought it would be nice to add a special feature to this particular Round-Up ~

~ Posts from the Past ~

Kathryn brings us a "blast from the past" with a flannel that she feels like could be tweaked into a Christmas gift rhyme. It is A Gift for Mommy! Too cute!


Anne is sharing a past post in honor of all the snow they've been getting in Michigan already.


And as one last example of Flannel Friday-ers thinking alike, I have chosen my "Not Quite a Flannel Friday ~ Melting Snowman" post from this past January to share. We aren't having any snow here in Florida (surprise, surprise!) but I have been receiving lots of snow pictures from my son and his fiance in Michigan. ;o)


Thanks for stopping by this week!
Hope you enjoyed the 
Flannel Friday Round-Up 
as much as I enjoyed hosting it!

Next week's Holiday Round-Up will be hosted by Mollie at What Happens in Storytime.